Malawi – Mtedza (Malawi Peanut Balls)

by Tanomba Thati

Mtedza is a hard yet delicious bite made from peanut crush. It is among the loved cuisine in Malawi due to the nutritional ingredients like fats, proteins and carbohydrates that saves in time of hiking or heavy manual works.

This cuisine is easy to prepare but it differs with places by the cause of ingredients, hence taste. Some add butter and cream while other adds sugar paste instead of cream or vanilla.

Groundnuts production in Malawi is at high rate compare to other eastern and southern Africa, this is due to the land fertility that is of sandy to support leguminous plants.

Cultivation of groundnuts in Malawi is at small scale level with rainfall dependent. Places like Kasungu, Lilongwe, Machinga and Blantyre are the most producing ones compare with others.

I warmly welcome you to this preparation of beneficial and delicious cuisine from Malawi.

Preparation and cooking

There are various types of groundnuts, red, deep red and fade red, also there are;

• Chalimbana
• Mawanga
• Manipintar

We will need the followings;

• 1/2 kg of any groundnuts type
• 3 teaspoons of butter
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla
• 1/4 kg of wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon of sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt

Start to heat oven for a few minutes that we will be through the preparation steps. The degree must range between 340° – 350° F.

• Crush the peanut into small pieces, then put into a bowl.
• Add in flour, vanilla, butter, sugar and salt then stir the mixture well.
• Make sure that they mix to form a fine and soft dough.

• Using your palms, roll off a sizable round shape from the dough and place them into the baking plate.
• Be sure to make the size you will prefer, because they won’t expand during baking in the oven.
• Bake them for about 20 minutes and observe the color change for more assurance, that it changes into light brown.
• Immediately after they are off bake from oven, roll into the sugary powder and make sure it is rolled all round asides.
• Enjoy these snacks from Malawi with family or friends.